


Legacy

by Midoriberry



Category: Persona 2, Persona 5, Persona | Revelations Persona
Genre: Gen, In game spoilers, Prompt Fill, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-27 11:13:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10017269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midoriberry/pseuds/Midoriberry
Summary: Reiji is off to visit his son in Tokyo after a long year of not seeing him.Prompt birthright:Reiji Kido hoped this day would never come, and yet here he was.His teenager had a Persona.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on Megaten Persona Prompts  
> http://megatenpersonaprompts.tumblr.com/post/157135358387/prompt-birthright

Reiji Kido was pacing up and down the stairs, holding his mobile tightly against his chest, unable to contain his excitement. He turned on the screen and unlocked his device, and looked at his contacts. He was going to make that phone call. No one was going to stop him! It had been a long time since he had seen his son Takashi; he was determined to finally get out of his stuffy job for a day and see his boy.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t bother to speak to his son. If anything, Reiji felt he was doing a pretty okay job at communicating with his son during his absence. He tried to at least call him every Sunday, and only missed two opportunities to do so. His wife never missed her usual call days, and his mother put the both of them to shame as she would call Takashi every other day like the doting grandmother that she was.

Reiji smiled. “Okay here goes nothing,” he said to himself as he pressed the contact’s name.

Two rings, nothing yet.

Bang!

“Hey Reiji!” said a heavy set man, loudly opening the door to the stairway. “You here!?”

The phone picked up. “Hel-“

Reiji cancelled the call in panic. “Dammit Toro I’m busy!”

“I was gonna invite you out for some sushi at Eikichi’s!”

“I already told you no!”

“Come on, man!”

“I said no!” he barked.

Toro looked a bit disappointed but then his face lit up with realization. “It’s for Takashi-kun right?”

Reiji looked away. “Tch.”

“So it is!” he laughed. “Alright, I’ll leave you alone. Tell your boy I said hi!” The door slammed heavily, leaving Reiji by himself once again.

The tall man frowned and looked at his phone. “One more time…”

The conversation only took a couple of minutes. Reiji felt a little awkward speaking to the man that had taken care of his son for all these months. It was Toro that knew the guy, not him. But he really did Reiji a big favor and took in Takashi without asking for too much despite the rather embarrassing circumstances.

Whatever.

Reiji would never be ashamed of his son, no matter what. This time it was even more important to see his son face-to-face. He may have not been there physically as he would have wanted during Takashi’s stay in Tokyo, but Reiji was going to at least do this.

“Just don’t tell him, k?”

“I won’t tell him anything, Kido-san,” the man replied.

The next morning Reiji took the train to Tokyo. It was a fairly short ride that took less than an hour to get to his destination. During the trip Reiji thought about what he would say to his son. The day his son left Sumaru City to go to Tokyo, Reiji had a very unsettling feeling in his stomach. Maybe it was intuition or just the worries of a father, but during his one of his sales routes, he felt Mot move wildly. Something he dreaded happened to Takashi, but he didn’t know what, yet something in him knew exactly what it was.

Once at Tokyo, Reiji used the subway to find his way towards the detention hall where his son was placed in. The tall man unconsciously touched his forehead and made sure his hair was hiding the scar. It was bad enough that a scary man was visiting his son in juvie, and by the way some of the people were looking at him, he certainly wasn’t wrong with his assessment.

Reiji swallowed nervously. _I don’t want to humiliate him._

After filling out the necessary paperwork and avoiding the jittery stares from some of the visitors and employees, Reiji was finally called in to see his son.

His phone buzzed softly. Reiji looked at his phone and saw a text from Nanjo.

**> I still have someone working on Takashi’s case. I’ll let you know if anything else comes up.**

Reiji sighed. **> thanks nanjo. i owe u one.**

So many thoughts went through Reiji’s mind. How was Takashi? Did they feed him well? Were other kids bullying him, or was Takashi sort of like himself and beat up the kids bothering him? Thinking about it, it was more likely the latter. Takashi had quite a mouth on him if he were provoked. He was not as intimidating like himself, but he definitely had a “don’t bother me” body language. Reiji usually didn’t think much on it, but his wife didn’t like how it looked to others in public. It probably didn’t help that Reiji also let his son play with knives as a kid either and Takashi being such a cocky kid, wound up telling the entire second grade class, causing him and his wife to have a parent-teacher conference regarding the manner.

There were so many things he wanted to say to his son. There was no way Reiji would turn back. It was too late at this point anyway. He just wanted to be sure he was wrong and that his gut instincts were wrong. It was now or never.

Mot shook.

Reiji shivered. _No. This can’t be._

That fear… That thing he never wanted to happen to his son. It just couldn’t be real. His persona had to be mistaken! _What the hell Mot!?_

The guard opened the door and let Takashi in and sat him down on the chair across from Reiji’s.

A cold sensation ran down Reiji’s spine as he sensed that unmistakable feeling: Takashi was a persona user.

He must have been making a weird face since Takashi quirked up his eyebrow and waved his hand in front of his face. “Dad? You alright?”

Reiji snapped out of his trance. “’m fine.”

“It’s…” Takashi looked down at the table. “It’s good to see you again.” He grimaced and looked everywhere but his father’s eyes. The boy flinched when he felt a large hand rest on his messy mop of a head, but relaxed as soon as it ruffled his hair.

Takashi looked up and saw his father smiling. To the average eye, it looked awkward and forced, almost crooked. But it was the smile Takashi had known all his life. It felt warm and sincere. He smiled back at his dad.

“No matter what happens, your dad’s got your back.”

Reiji spent all his visitation time to the very last second with Takashi. As the minutes winded down, one of the guards trembled as he tried to approach their table. Reiji would look at the guy drearily every single time, to which the guard would stutter a few apologies and walk back to his station.

Takashi burst out laughing. “Never change dad.”

“I didn’t even do anything, Takashi,” he answered with a roll of his eyes. He wiped his mouth whenever he felt it twitch into a smirk.

Five guards later, it took the head guard to tell Reiji that his time was up. Funny enough all that ruckus had earned him twenty extra minutes to be with his son.

There was an awkward pause between the two.

“Fuck it.” Reiji wrapped his arm around his son’s head and held it close to his chest.

Takashi stood still and let his dad hold him tightly.

“That’s enough,” the head guard growled.

With an annoyed ‘tch’, Reiji reluctantly let go of his son. As he pulled out his arm, Takashi immediately turned his face away from his dad and followed the guard. It was all too quick, but Reiji was able to get a small glimpse at his cheek: it was bright red, and so was his neck. Right before the door closed, Takashi let out a loud sniff.

Reiji walked out of the visitation area, looked for the nearest restroom, and locked himself inside a stall. He slid to the floor with his hands over his face, and sobbed. He cried and he cried some more. The last time he had cried when he first held Takashi in his arms, and before that it was when he first witnessed his mother being beaten by Kandori’s father.

_He’s a Persona user! He’s a Persona user! He’s a Persona user! Why is he a Persona user!? Why does he have to do this?!_ Reiji slammed his fist on the floor. _Is it because of me? Because I have a Persona? This is bullshit! Why is this happening to him!?_ _Why the hell are you doing this Philemon!?_

He continued to hit the floor angrily until his hand began to bleed.

Mot stirred.

“That’s right… that was not a regular Persona.” He wiped his eyes with his jacket. “It felt kinda glorious? …Hell yeah!” He fidgeted excitedly. “Like, like Mot!”

His hands found their way back to his face. The man sobbed loudly. “He did it! He fucking did it! Takashi you did it!”

After washing his face and composing himself from the excitement, Reiji left the restroom as if nothing had ever happened. In front of the detention center, a yellow beetle was parking in front with a man waiting outside.

“Kido-san?” asked the older man.

“Sojiro?”

“I figured you’d like a ride back to the station.”

“Uhh… how did you-?”

“I know the visitation hours,” Sojiro said.

“I guess.”

The two rode silently to the train station. Reiji opened the door and felt Sojiro’s arm on his shoulder.

“You have a great kid, Kido-san.”

Reiji smirked. “I know.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right after I wrote it, I thought, "Damn I should have put what they talked about!"  
> This is their conversation while at the detention hall.

“No matter what happens, your dad’s got your back.”

Takashi smiled back at his dad. “Thanks dad.” The boy sat back on his chair and sighed as he blew air at his bangs. He really did not expect his father to come to the detention center. The last time he spoke to him was for five minutes on New Year’s a few days after he was sent to the detention center, and the phone call was cut short because his mom pushed his dad out of the way, insisting that it was her turn. She never let Takashi say what he wanted either and hogged the entire conversation. After that, he didn’t hear from his father again, even for his usual Sunday calls. His mother had told him it was work related, Takashi didn’t like that excuse.

A few years ago when he was still in elementary school, his father got involved with a side job that his Uncle Kei and his future wife created. The job paid very well, a whole lot better than whatever his father was making as a salesman, but he was around a lot less whenever he was called for an assignment. At first Takashi was happy because they got to go out to eat more often, and he got new clothes and toys, and his dad even bought a bigger house for them to live in. Yet as the months passed, Takashi became embittered that his father hardly showed his face. If it wasn’t his sales job, it was his side job, and if it wasn’t the side job, it was his sales. He got into a fight with his dad on the first night of his summer vacation.

“You can’t go!” an eleven-year old Takashi yelled from the stairs. His father was about to leave home at the dead of night with a blonde foreigner wearing headphones. 

“Dammit,” his father muttered under his breath. He grimaced as he looked at his son. “Kashi, go back to bed.” He said his very softly. There was something plaguing his mind, but as a child, Takashi could not catch such nuance and interpreted it differently.

“You do this all the time!” Takashi stamped his feet, then came rushing down the stairs. “You promised you were going to take me to the park tomorrow!”

“Takashi not now.”

“Kido-san, if we do not go now…” said the foreign girl with worry. 

Takashi balled his fists. “Shut up! You can’t take my dad away!”

“That’s enough!” yelled Reiji. “I have to go now. Go back to bed and tomorrow I’ll take you to the park. Just go!”

“I don’t believe you. You’re a liar dad!”

His dad’s face turned red. “What the hell you just say!?”

“Kido-san, we need to meet with Officer Suou before it gets worse.”

“Just wait Aigis!”

“You’re a liar and I never want to see you ever again!” Without thinking, Takashi bolted for the door without his shoes and ran as fast as he could. He didn’t care that the concrete was painful against his bare foot or that there were people looking at him run down the street. He wanted to get away from his father and never see him again!

It did not take too long for his dad and the foreigner to catch him. The lady named Aigis caught up to him rather quickly, but she missed when Takashi suddenly took a sharp turn to another street. His dad screamed out his name.

On that street he had turned to, there was a large black puddle covering the entire road like a river. Takashi almost ran into it; however his body had instinctively stopped him right before hitting the mysterious liquid. Shivers ran down his body and shook uncontrollably. The puddle began to scoop itself up until it formed into a gelatinous almost human-shaped being, equipped with a large mace, wearing a green mask. The creature looked down at Takashi’s frozen body, inching its mask closer and closer to the boy’s face.

The next thing he knew, the foreigner had taken off her trench coat and started shooting at the monster with her hands. The monster shrieked in pain and moved away from Takashi. The boy began to feel faint and collapsed. Barely holding onto his consciousness, he felt a familiar warm body carry him from the ground and held him close to his chest. The very last thing he heard was:

“MOT!”

When Takashi woke up he was sleeping in his room, except his father was right next to him. He wasn’t too sure if that was a dream or if any of that ever happened. His father made no mention of it and said he was having a nightmare and decided to sleep with him for support. Ironically, despite having such a dream that his dad was leaving him, he stopped going as often to his side job, or it at least looked like it. His dad began to spend more time with Takashi, and Takashi was none the wiser. 

“They feeding you here?”

Takashi had zoned out for a bit. “Yeah.” 

“You’re looking less like a fat ass.” 

“I was never a fat ass!”

“You’re right, more like a flat ab.” Reiji laughed. “But seriously, you’re looking fit. You workin’ out?”

Rolling his eyes at the terrible dad joke, Takashi pulled up his shirt to show his father his progress. “Not quite there, but I’ll get there.”

“Not bad.” Reiji was impressed. “Not bad at all. Still not quite a six-pack like mine. You got a long way to go, kid.”

“Oh I’ll get there.” He replied confidently and pulled down his shirt. 

“I was already there before my second year of high school.”

“You didn’t have phones and internet. Cut me some slack here.”

“I would but I don’t want you to get any shorter than you already are.”

“Ugh.” Takashi was very conscious of his height. While still being taller than most Japanese men, he was still shorter than his father who had already been 182cm when he started his second year. Personally he blamed his mother for contributing to his height.

“Don’t sweat it, Kashi.” Reiji reached over and patted his shoulder. “You’re still not done growing. At least you’re taller than Mark.”

Both of them laughed. “No one is shorter than Mark, not even mom.”

“Did you know he gets mad that you call him Mark?”

“What? Why?”

Reiji wiped his face, unable to stop smirking. “You call everyone uncle or aunt except him. He was like ‘He’s just like you Reiji!’ and I was like ‘Whatever Mark.’ He was so mad.”

“Pft,” Takashi scoffed. “I sure as hell don’t call Brown ‘uncle.’ Or Yuka for that matter. Or Maki… hell I think I only call Naoya and Kei uncle.”

“You call Eriko ‘aunt.’”

“Yeah but she’s different, and she also wants me to call her aunt in English, but it comes out kinda bad. Aunt Eriko’s cool about it though and says my English has potential. She’s really nice like an aunt should be. Not that Maki isn’t but I can’t seem to call her anything but that. One time she told me that I could call her Aunt Maki, but I kept saying ‘Maki’ until she gave up.” Takashi shrugged. “Actually remember I started calling Aunt Yukino ‘aunt’ when I was five because she got mad that I was calling her that. I think she thought I was calling her old.”

“Knowing you? Yeah, you probably were, little shit.”

Slapping his hand over his eyes, Takashi began to chuckle eventually turning into an outright fit of laughter. “I know. I totally was.” He let out a loud laugh. “And I still do.”

“Fuck,” Reiji snorted and started to laugh with his son. Their laughs grew louder and louder until a few people turned, including the guards. One guard came close to telling them to keep it down, but despite Reiji’s laughter, he still managed to scare the guy off back to his corner, “What are you looking?” Reiji grabbed at his stomach and slapped his hand on the table. “If she ever heard you, she’d kick your ass.”

Takashi wiped the tears from his eyes. “I know. Ow.” Takashi groaned from the pain in his stomach and chortled a bit before finally stopping. 

A sudden silence hit the table, yet it was a comfortable silence. Their fit of laughter brought them in a state of bliss as if they were not in a detention hall but back at home in their living room watching the latest episode of SUMAsumaSUMARU featuring Brown and his co-host Junko Kurosu. Takashi would be wearing his Sevens uniform and his dad would be itching to remove his stuffy suit and strip down to comfortable pants, with no shirt of course. It almost felt like none of this entire year had ever happened.

Takashi caught his father wincing for a split second before going back to his normal neutral face. _Odd_ , he thought. _Is something hurting him?_ Before he could ask his father, an electric jolt went down his back and limbs. There was something strange about his father. He could not tell what it was and it bothered him. At best the only way he could describe the feeling was an aura. There was an aura surrounding his dad. Takashi felt Arsène, Satanael and his other Personas stir. Arsène and Satanael in particular were ecstatic. His other Personas seemed to just shift, although Mot, a Persona he kept with him closely for reasons he himself could not explain, felt curious about the matter. 

Mot’s reaction reminded Takashi of a time when he was in Mementos with the Phantom Thieves. One of the demons had casted tentarafoo and it managed to hit him. While he was confused, his friends managed to down all the demons. Due to his confusion though, Takashi had walked up to one of the demons, which was Mot, and started to hug the coffin. The other demons were confused and unsure if this was a negotiation or not. Mot wasn’t sure what to think about the situation either. Futaba yelled at him in attempts to snap him out of his confusion, but failed.

With tears in his eyes, Takashi began to babble. “I’m so sorry, dad. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” He snuggled against Mot’s coffin and whimpered. “I'm just doing what I thought was right. I didn’t think it would get like this.” 

Unabashed sobs and loud sniffs were heard by his friends and the demons. The downed Succubus looked at Mot with worry. Mot poked his head out and shrugged at his comrade and began to rub down Takashi’s back in an effort to get him to calm down. This was a tentarafoo gone absolutely wrong. 

“I love you dad. Please don’t leave!”

“YOU’RE CRAZY, MAN,” answered Mot. “I’M NOT YOUR DAD.”

“D-don’t tell me that! Nooo!” Takashi sobbed and nuzzled closer to the coffin, putting up his leg against it.

“Holy shit is this really happening?” asked Ryuji. “Should I just hit Joker on the head?”

“JUST TAKE MY MONEY. I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR THIS.”

“NO! You promised not to go back to that job!”

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? KNOW WHAT? FORGET THIS. BEAST EYE!”

Everyone except Takashi had turned into a cute white mouse. Futaba continued to yell.

“It doesn’t work when he has another status effect, Mot!” replied the Succubus.

Takashi wasn’t sure what happened, but the wave of confusion dissipated and found the Succubus trying to pry Mot out of his arms. In the end he let them get away and healed his friends from their mousey states.

“That was… the weirdest negotiation,” said Makoto. 

Yusuke looked absolutely overjoyed. “It gave me inspiration for a piece!”

 

Like a bolt from the blue, that aura had disappeared. Takashi could not seem to figure out what it was all about. His Personas stayed quiet and remained so. _What was that about?_

Reiji looked at his phone and sent a text. “I gotta tell ya Kashi, I have Nanjo helping me with your case.”

“Uncle Kei?”

“Yeah. Seems like his associates are getting close to getting Shido’s shit organized. You may be able to get out by February.” Reiji sighed with relief. “I gotta say though. You have friends that care for you. Nanjo told me some of them are working to help you get out.”

Takashi smirked. “You’re not the only one with friends in high places.”

“Probably not as high as Nanjo, Kashi, but they’re doing great job. I’m glad.”

“Thanks for asking Uncle Kei to help, dad.”

“S’not a problem. I told you I have your back.” The two were silent again. There was still plenty of time left before visitation hours ended. Not wanting to finish prematurely, Reiji took a deep breath. “Hey Takashi?”

“Yeah dad?”

“Is there something you wanna tell me?”

Takashi’s eyes went wide. “W-what?”

“This whole Phantom Thief thing, I don’t really know all the details but, you know, you don’t have to tell me anything either.”

“Well,” he rested his head on hand. Takashi wasn’t quite ready to tell his father about the Phantom Thieves and the truth behind them and that he has the power of Personas, however, there was definitely something else he wanted to tell his dad about. Maybe he could shed some light on it. “There was this guy I used to know. He… didn’t have friends and he had a hard life. He had a mom that had an affair with a rich politician. When she got pregnant, he left her and never came back. Unfortunately she died later on from her depression when the guy was a small kid. He was taken to a lot of homes, never really finding a family or a home.

“He spent the rest of his life trying to impress adults and never had a friend. Eventually he managed to get really popular and had access to his asshole of a father. That bastard dad began to use him for his personal gains, but the guy was fine because it was going to work in his favor. He said he wanted to take this guy to his highest then send him to crash and burn. He wanted revenge and it was all he could focus on.”

“What happened to this kid?” his father asked quietly.

“…he died last November.” Eyes drawn down, Takashi was silent for a few moments before he could answer. “I couldn’t save him.”

Reiji leaned back on his chair, arms stretched behind his head in deep thought. This was a rather uncanny coincidence all things considered. “When I was your age, I got involved with something like this, except I never got arrested. Regardless I did something really terrible.”

“What…” Takashi swallowed thickly. He lowered his voice. “What did you do?”

“Remember your Uncle Takahisa I told you about?” 

Takashi nodded.

Leaning back towards the table, he stared straight at his son, and replied in a hushed tone, “I killed him.” His gaze did not waver. He noticed his son didn’t move but the shocked expression of his eyes said enough. “Your uncles did and your Aunt Maki too. You probably never heard of the SEBEC incident of 1996, but it was a huge thing, and I was one of the unknown kids involved. Anyways, I was obsessed with taking revenge on Kandori’s father.” 

“Uhh…”

“Kandori was Takahisa’s last name.” He leaned in closer. “Kandori’s father was also my father. He had an affair with your grandma and abandoned her when she got pregnant. It wasn’t just that. The son of a bitch still visited your grandma later on and beat her." Reiji turned his head away, took a deep breath, and looked right back at Takashi's eyes. "It wasn’t easy growing up as a bastard kid with a single mom either. Other moms would tell their kids to not play with me, or they’d say passive aggressive things to my mom or behind her back like the cowardly bitches that they were. I never had a single friend until my second year of high school.

“When I was probably in the fifth or sixth grade, Kandori’s father came back after several years of not seeing us and was going to hit mom with a golf club. I had enough of that asshole doing whatever he wanted just because he’s so damn rich and powerful, so I ran to defend your grandma and I got hit with the golf club.”

Reiji lifted his bangs. “That’s how I got that scar, by the way. A gift from my ‘father’,” he spat in disdain. 

“So, uh, er, what-” Takashi had no idea where to go with his question.

“Kandori’s father actually panicked. He never hit or yelled at me before, which is damn ironic since he thought mom was a punching bag. That asshole.” Gritting his teeth, Reiji took a deep breath. “We never saw him afterwards. Later on I found out he died. I couldn’t get my revenge on him so I targeted his son.”

“Uncle Takahisa… how did you feel after you killed him?”

Combing at his bangs to hide the scar again, Reiji sighed morosely. “Kashi, if Kandori were a janitor and not a rich CEO, I would have still wanted to kill him.” He was silent for a bit, trying to carefully pick the words he wanted to say. “…My revenge was stupid. It wasn’t worth my anger or the effort. I didn’t realize this until after he died. If there’s something for you to take from this is that revenge doesn’t do shit. And I’m glad you didn’t try to kill Shido.”

Takashi was silent. He had heard from his grandmother a bit about her and his dad’s past, but it was nothing like this. It obvious that his father hid some details like how he killed his half-brother and how his friends got involved with the murder, but in a way Takashi didn’t want to know, at least not yet. It almost sounded fantastical, kind of like the Palaces and Persona. 

And a lot of the details were almost like what happened to Goro. It was really surreal how they all seemed to come together. There he was Takashi the son of a man who was almost just like Goro, and then there was Goro who didn’t make it passed it all like his father had. Goro won’t ever get to know how it was like to have real friends and have fun. Goro will never learn the lessons his father learned the hard way and share those experiences with others. Goro died because it was too late. 

_If I had known Goro sooner, maybe he would still be alive and wind up like dad instead. He’d have a kid like me and work as a detective and then everything would be okay._

A warm hand rubbed his hair. Looking up, his father was smiling wistfully. “It’s going to be alright. Life will change.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm such a ham.  
> Comments and kudos are always welcomed!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to do a prompt for someone on /pg/ which was to write about Reiji hearing the news of his son's arrest and how he took matters into his own hands. This is what came about it. Same universe as the first two chapters, just the beginning of the mess that landed Joker in Tokyo.
> 
> Eriko has a penchant for speaking in random fluent English words. Anything with _italics_ means she's speaking in English.

It was supposed to be a surprise. It was supposed to be a happy day, but how did it end up like this?

“R-Reiji,” his mother sobbed through the phone. 

“Mom?” The sobs continued. This wasn’t good. “MOM!? What the hell’s wrong?! MOM!” 

“T-Takkun…” 

A cold sinking feeling ran down Reiji’s body. He unconsciously lowered himself to his knees, dreading what his mother’s answer would be. Soft beeps indicated there was another call trying to come through: it was his wife. He swallowed nervously. “M-Mom? What’s going on?” 

“N-no it’s…” her voiced faltered with a sudden gasp. “Takkun’s in jail.”

“Is that fucking it!?” he screamed and groaned in relief. His eyes began to sting with the threat of tears. “You made me think he was fucking dead!” 

“I’m so sorry, dear,” Ms. Kido cried. “I didn’t know what else to do!”

Wiping his eyes, Reiji took a few deep breaths. He looked down at his phone’s screen and saw that his wife was still trying to reach him. With a weary sigh, he rejected the call and sent her a quick text. “Where is he?”

“H-He’s at the Kounan Police Department. I think your wife is heading there right now.”

“Go meet her there. Tell Takashi I’m going to take care of it, okay?”

Softly sniffling Ms. Kido responded, “Yes....”

After hanging up with his mother, Reiji was tempted to throw his phone across the pavement. Instead he punched the ground. It hurt like hell, and it was going to be sore in the morning and leave some bruises, but Reiji didn’t care. Takashi was alive and that’s all that mattered.

A gentle hand touched his shoulder. “Is everything okay?”

“No.” He gritted his teeth and slowly rose from the ground. “Takashi’s in jail right now.”

The woman gasped. “What happened!?”

“I dunno, but I’m gonna find out. You got Suou’s number?”

“ _Yes_.”

“Call him.” Reiji began to flip through his contacts. “I’m calling Nanjo right now.”

“Reiji, the _shadow_ is still out there.”

The tall man pressed the cell against his ear, waiting for Nanjo to pick up. “We just have to let Mitsuru know then,” he bit his lip, “Tch, it’s not a big deal, Eriko.”

The call came through.

Eriko frowned. “This is the biggest _shadow_ signal we’ve gotten in months so you know this _shadow_ is a big deal! We need to call in for _back up_ right now or you won’t be alive to see Takashi!”

“DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!” he shouted. The phone answered with a concerned hello, but Reiji ignored it. “I need to help my son!”

“And we will help him!” Eriko grabbed Reiji by his arms. “But we have to do something about the _shadow_ first.”

“But,” Reiji scowled, “that could take all night-”

Squeezing her partner’s arms, Eriko smiled wryly, “I never said **you’re** going to fight it, _silly_.” She loosened her grip and took the mobile from Reiji’s hand, carefully searching for the speaker button. “Nanjo? This is Elly. Can you send me some _back up_? Something happened to Takashi and this _shadow_ is a little too big for me to fight alone.”

“While you were arguing,” Nanjo responded in his usual matter-of-fact tone, “I already contacted other Shadow Operatives to assist you. Now what happened to Takashi?”

“All I know is that he’s in jail in Kounan. My wife and mom are heading there, and I’m gonna need your help.”

“Call Captain Suou, and I’ll get in touch with a lawyer. Do not be surprised if an unknown number calls you later.” A woman’s voice interrupted his train of thought. Nanjo’s voice trailed off to a short distance to speak to her and thanked her. “I just received the information about the shadow from Mitsuru. Elly, I advise you to head to a public area until your support arrives.”

“ _Roger that_!” 

Reiji wasted no time to head to the police department. He called Katsuya and explained the situation. Katsuya assured Reiji that his son would not be hurt, and would look into the case. 

While travelling on train, Reiji dug into his pocket and took out a set of keys. He held them tightly in his fist, bringing it to his face and breathing heavily against it. They were an early birthday gift to his son. Sure, Takashi wouldn’t be able to get his motorcycle license until after his birthday, but at least he’d have his set of wheels. Takashi had been bugging him the last couple of months over how “cool” it would be if he could go to school with a motorbike, and how “helpful” he would be around the house if he had a bike to run errands with. Reiji had told him he was retarded and full of shit, earning an eyeroll from his son, yet it never stopped Takashi to try again all the while not realizing his father was taking note on what he was looking for in a bike but deflecting it as if he were disinterested with the idea.

“Aw come on dad," Takashi said one evening while massaging Reiji's shoulders, clearly with an ulterior motive. "Can’t you see it already? Me in a red Kawasaki getting groceries for mom? It would be bad ass.”

“Red’s a girl’s color.”

“No it’s not! Ugh! Now you’re the one being retarded.”

“You ain’t gonna do shit except show it off at school. Tch, getting groceries my ass.”

Smiling wistfully at the memory, Reiji kissed the keys and put them back in his pocket, patting it for reassurance. 

As he got off the station, Reiji sense a familiar eerie presence nearby. He had felt it earlier while he was out with Eriko on his mission. The shadow that he was looking for seemed to have followed him for some reason. Most shadows he encountered knew better than to stalk Persona users. Even if the shadow were stronger, they always gave up the chase if the person got far enough away. Reiji, however, was easily over twenty miles from where he last sensed it.

“What are you up to…?” he whispered as he wandered through the streets, coming closer to the police department.

“Shitty brat! I’ll sue!” yelled a man’s voice. 

“The hell?” Reiji turned his head abruptly but found no one behind him.

“Hey back off!” a younger voice responded.

Confused, Reiji spun around. That was Takashi’s voice! And sounded so close too! Almost as if he were right in front of him. But that was impossible: Takashi was in the police station.

The man’s voice returned. “You know what will happen if you don’t do what I say.” 

“HELP ME!” This time it was a woman.

“I didn’t do anything!” Takashi again.

Clenching his fists tightly, Reiji slowly pulled out his American flag gloves and donned them without making any sudden movements. His hand was still hurting from when he punched the ground, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. He braced his body for the imminent impact. “Show yourself, you bastard.”

“Be sure to leave my name out in the report.”

Takashi’s voice echoed louder. “Dad’s gonna kill me…”

Reiji did not falter. “I said show yourself!”

Distorted laughter echoed from every corner of the streets, the sound bouncing closer and yet farther at the same time. Large goops bubbled up from a manhole, spilling its contents into the concrete, piling up to form a gelatinous humanoid. Several masks popped out all over the body with a bigger mask pushing itself from the inside creating a head for the creature. 

“What’s going to happen to me?” Takashi’s voice asked desperately from the monster, it’s voice becoming more and more distorted as it approached Reiji.

Something felt wrong. The shadow was creating those voices, and it was coming straight for him, but Reiji could not shake the feeling that there was something else out there spectating. 

Something heavy.

Something sinister. 

Something _familiar_.

The hairs on Reiji’s neck stood straight as he heard a familiar silky voice right beside his left ear. “It’s time to play his game.”

“MOT!” 

Two hours had passed when Reiji finally emerged victorious from the fight. When he arrived at the station, he almost collapsed at the doorsteps from the exhaustion of the battle. His clothes were torn in several places, sweat dripped and soaked all over, and there was blood running down his face. If anyone looked at him, they would have assumed he had gotten into a bar fight. Reiji slid down with his back against the brick stairwell and sat on the steps.

He almost didn’t make it through that fight. Eriko was right: that shadow definitely required more than one person to take it down. Yet despite the severe beat down, somehow Reiji mustered the strength to overwhelm the shadow and gain an advantage. The shadow would have won if it didn’t make the mistake of using Takashi’s voice to taunt him. 

“You disgust me most of all, dad.”

Enraged, Reiji summoned Mot once more and obliterated the shadow. He immediately noted the spectator’s presence had disappeared the moment the shadow used his son’s voice, leaving Reiji to unleash his fury.

“Don’t mess with my kid,” he said to himself while rubbing medicine on his head wound. A buzz and a loud ring snapped Reiji out of his thoughts. “Yeah?”

“Is this Kido-san?” asked a woman’s voice.

“Who’s asking?”

“The lawyer Nanjo-san contacted. I’m at the police station with your family.”

A sigh of relief escaped his weary body. “How’s it look?”

“This is… going to be more complicated than we anticipated.”

Reiji sat up straight, loosening his shirt. “What does that mean?”

The lawyer was silent for a few seconds before answering, “The person who got your son into this has remained anonymous however… by what I have gathered it seems this man is not your average person.”

“What the hell is that!?” he growled.

“The man either is important or knows people in very high places, Kido-san. Whatever the circumstance may be, I will do my best to help your son.”

After much thought, and waiting for some of the pain to subside, Reiji entered the precinct and found his mother standing next to the statue of Bobby-kun. 

“Reiji!” She waved her hand towards her son, and rushed over to him. “You look awful! What happened?”

Unable to look at his mother in the eyes, Reiji responded with a “Don’t ask.” He hugged his mother tightly, feeling that annoying stinging sensation in his eyes again. “Where’s Kashi?”

“The lawyer’s with him. He’s going to get out on bail, but he’ll still have a court hearing,” she said softly. “Takkun hasn’t said much but I know he wants to see you right now.”

“How can you tell?”

Ms. Kido smiled against her son’s shoulder. “He’s just like you, that’s why.”

“Mom,” Reiji whispered, “I don’t know what to do.”

His mother sighed deeply. “Just be there for him no matter what. That’s all you can do.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s what I did for you.”

A nervous laughter escaped from his lips. That’s right. His mother did put up with a lot of crap from him for many years, and despite everything she was always there to defend him, even if Reiji was in the wrong. “Thanks mom.”

“Go see him, Reiji.”

Led by a cop, Reiji ventured through the station to where Takashi was being held. His son looked miserable sitting in the cell all alone, staring at the floor while the lawyer was making phone calls. 

“Hey,” Reiji leaned against the bars. “Where’s your mom?”

Takashi startled, and glanced up to see his dad looking like absolute shit. “What happened to you?”

“I could ask the same thing,” he replied with a half-smile. Reiji stuck his arm into the cell. “C’mere.”

Slowly, Takashi shuffled towards his father and rested his forehead between two bars, allowing Reiji to wrap his arm around his son. The two were quiet for a long time while the attorney continued to blast her phone. 

“So…” Takashi started.

“So…” Reiji responded in return.

“So much getting home early today.”

“Yeah…”

“Mom says the school is most likely going to expel me.”

“Hn.” Reiji rubbed his son’s back. “There’s always Kasugayama.”

Takashi snorted. “More like _Kusogayama_. I wouldn’t be caught dead with those shitty uniforms.”

“Your math teacher went to that school, ya know.”

Takashi quirked up an eyebrow. “Mr. Kashihara? He’s too smart to have gone there, dad.”

“He totally did. He’s only, like, two years my junior.”

“Well I guess a school full of guys would be right up his alley.”

The two chuckled. 

“Well where ever they’ll take you, we’ll figure it out, okay?”

“Yeah.” Takashi bit his lips and sighed. “Hey dad?”

“Hm?”

“What if no school wants me?”

“Someone’s bound to accept you.”

“What if Cuss doesn’t want me? What if I have to go to Tokyo or Sapporo or something far like that?”

Reiji rolled his eyes. “Don’t be clown, Kashi.”

“I’m serious!”

“Okay, okay,” Reiji patted Takashi’s back. “I’ll figure something out if in the unlikely event you have to go far. Sound alright?”

“I guess,” he replied sarcastically. 

“Little shit.” Sticking his other arm through, Reiji ruffled his son’s fluffy hair. “You gonna tell me what happened?”

Takashi huffed loudly through his nose. “Some… some drunken asshole was messing with a lady. Like, he was grabbing her hard, almost dragging her down the street. She was screaming for help, and her shirt was missing buttons and all. So I went over there and told him to get away from her. I hardly even touched the guy and he fell on his face. He got real pissed and started talking about suing me and scared that woman to say I assaulted him in front of the cops. I swear I didn’t do anything! I just wanted to help her!”

“Did…” Reiji paused. “No… uh, do you regret helping her?”

Takashi looked straight into his father’s eyes. “No,” he answered with conviction. He received another head ruffle from his dad. His head was pressed closer to the bars. “Ow dad!” Takashi tried to pull away from his dad’s hands. 

“I’m proud of you, Takashi.” Reiji placed a quick kiss on top of his head, immediately stopping Takashi’s grunts and squirming.

After the bail was paid, the ride back home was quiet. His wife drove as Reiji was in no condition to do so. It let Reiji think more about the situation. As he gazed out at the city, Reiji saw the reflection of his son viewing the outside with the same pensive expression as him. He noticed his mother's hand reach out for Takashi's. Without ever leaving his sight from the window, Takashi boldy grabbed his grandmother's hand and squeezed it gently. He did not let go. 

Reiji smiled inwardly. Takashi was now safe with him but for how long? There was still court and the school to deal with. And that menacing presence that watched him fight tirelessly against that shadow worried Reiji. Tomorrow he would report his findings and concerns to Mitsuru or Nanjo. For now though, he was going to take a shower and think about what else to do to help his son. If his mother could put up with the bullshit he did in his early teenage years, then he sure as hell could the same for Takashi.

Little did Reiji know that this was only the beginning of a long battle played out by the watchers of man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to think that it's all connected in some sort of way. I've always been big on connecting the dots in the Persona series since I love conspiracies.
> 
> I didn't want to put it in its own story since I just want to leave it contained in one place if that makes any sense. Sort of the one area where I put this headcanon and its stories.
> 
> Comments and kudos are always welcome!


	4. Butterfly Effect Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything you do has consequences. Every decision one makes affects what happens next. Once you make that decision, there is no going back. What's done is done. One little insignificant choice can lead to a cascade of good or bad. Takashi must make a decision now before he goes to fight Shadow Sae for the final time, enacting the ultimate plan against the mole.

It was Saturday November 19th. The Phantom Thieves gathered together on the final day to confront Sae’s shadow. As they discussed their plans, determined to help Makoto’s sister, Takashi stared blankly at his phone.

This entire week he had made every conversation with his grandmother short and didn’t even bother to answer his mother’s calls, only sending her a brief text message saying he was too tired or busy studying. All the while his father had been calling him every single day, even going so far as to call the café for some answers. Takashi completely ignored his father, letting the mobile calls go to voicemail, and shrugging off Sojiro when he mentioned his father called. 

Takashi wasn’t mad though, but he was sure as hell his father was. It was his fault to begin with. He had rudely cut off his conversation with his dad last Sunday, and he did it unapologetically, earning the ire of Morgana demanding to know why he was being so suspicious and mean to his father. The worst part of it was that Takashi really wanted to speak to his father. But despite his overall cocky attitude and high confidence, he couldn’t find the strength to feign innocence to his dad. Not when the big ruse was looming closer. 

He just couldn’t. 

If he had to be honest, Takashi was scared yet he’d never let anyone know that, especially Morgana. The plan they were about to pull was nearing towards its conclusion. Defeating Shadow Sae was going to be the easy part, but the part that would follow would rely heavily on the decisions Takashi would have to make during his interrogation. The success of the entire operation rested on his shoulders. Failure meant… 

No. 

He would not think about that option. 

He prayed all will go well. 

And because of those circumstances plus Morgana’s heavy yet curious staring from across the room as he spoke to his father, he couldn’t say anything else without breaking down and telling his father the truth. His father had such a strange effect on him. Normally Takashi was able to easily lie to anyone, even to his sweet grandmother, but not his father. A few white lies here and there weren’t an issue because that would be pretty damn silly of him to break down over something trivial as a bad grade or stolen snacks that were clearly labeled as “papa’s cookies.” But something like this? Being the leader of the Phantom Thieves and committing actual crimes? Mom and grandma were one thing, but dad? The pressure was too much to bear. His nerves were getting the better of him and he had to shut his dad down swiftly or risk a full on confession full of ugly sobbing and repeated “I’m so sorry!”s. And he hated every second of it. 

Takashi promised himself he would call his dad the moment the entire ordeal was over, and talk until he passed out in bed. It was the very least he could do after shunning him bar going back home in the middle of the night. That option, unfortunately, was far too risky and could lead into more issues with his parole officer. It’s best to wait it out so all the burden and pressure would be off his shoulders and he can finally speak freely to his dad.

With a sigh, Takashi opened his messages and began typing. 

**> Sorry I haven’t been answering your calls/texts. Sojiro’s told me you’ve been calling the shop to know what’s going on. I just want you to know that I *AM* okay, but I am nervous. This project has put me on edge. This isn’t like me, I know. But like. Please trust me k? I promise I will call you this Sunday. I’ll call you every day after this if I have to. You gotta understand that sometimes a man has to do something and follow through. You told me this before, right? I got this dad. Just tell me you trust me and I will do this! That is *literally* all I need for this project. It’s the only thing! And… forgive me for being such an asshole to you. **

“So what’s the verdict, leader?” asked Ryuji, throwing off Takashi’s concentration to his phone.

“What was what?”

Futaba noticed Takashi’s reaction and pretended to look at her phone. She had noted Morgana tensed up slightly in Takashi’s lap, able to see everything that he had been typing. It was also no surprise to see Goro’s body language change from nonchalant to of piqued interest at Takashi’s lack of attention to the meeting. Whether he had seen the message or not Futaba could not tell, but Goro was definitely at a vantage point as he was standing right behind their leader during that meeting.

Takashi recovered quickly from his flub, placing his phone faced down while finishing off their meeting. As the team headed out the café and to the palace, Takashi walked from behind looking intensely at his phone. The message was still there and ready to be sent at the touch of a button. 

“Remember Takashi,” Morgana whispered as he rode on the teen’s shoulders. “All your decisions have consequences. A Phantom Thief should never do anything to jeopardize their mission. If you feel you gotta do this, then do it.”

“If I send the message…”

“Then you sent the message. If you don’t, you don’t. But know that things will be different whether or not you do this or not.”

“How do you know this?”

“I…I don’t remember,” Morgana sighed sadly. “I just know that everything you do will have a reaction. Positive or negative. Whichever. Just decide now to do it or not.” Morgana’s voice became low. “It’s just like our plan.”

Takashi nodded. Looking ahead, he observed how Goro and Futaba were walking slower than their usual pace ahead of him. They had been close enough to possibly hear their conversation. Morgana was thankfully cautious and spoke quietly. 

A voice in his head echoed a message:

_What will you do?_  
_Will you send the message to your father?_  
_Or will you go on without doing so?_

Takashi pulled up his phone and stared at the unsent message. Futaba stopped to tie her boots while Goro paused to read a sign. The others were well far ahead of them now.

“I will…”

It was the moment of truth. As soon as they open the navigator app, none of the Phantom Thieves would be able to use any of their real world technology. 

Now or never. 

What was it going to be?

Send the message to his father, or go and solve this on his own?

Takashi walked ahead of the two eavesdroppers to catch up with the others. He double clicked the home button and opened the Metaverse navigator app, sending the group to the other world where Sae’s palace was located. 

His phone rendered useless. 

He had friends and allies. They should be enough to get him through the ordeal.

“…not send it.”

Dad would just get in the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is part 1 of two chapters. These two will be my final installments of the Takashi Kido chapters as we may soon have a name revealed this Christmas Eve. I see it as a farewell, but I had fun writing this. I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are always welcomed!


	5. Butterfly Effect Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After making his choice, Joker's fate has been decided.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to finish this chapter two hours before the Persona anime and dance event. That was my goal by the way. I really wanted to finish it just in case Joker's name would be revealed. In truth, I had wanted to write this scenario for the longest time. It was going to be written back when the Yokohama concert was going to air, but my sloth got the better of me, same with the lack of inspiration. 
> 
> I poured a lot of love into this final chapter. Please enjoy!

“Listen to the goddamn message, selfish attic trash! Listen to how fucking ungrateful and lucky you are! My final gift to you!”

…

“Case closed... This is how your "justice" ends.”

 

_“Is this Reiji Kido?”_

 

“Café Leblan-”

“Where the FUCK is my boy!?”

Sojiro held the receiver away from his ear and sighed. Kido-san had been calling every day for the past week asking to speak to his son. As much as he didn’t mind covering for Takashi, Sojiro was beginning to worry about his ward’s avoidance towards his father. Takashi may be a lazy kid, but he didn’t shy away from a problem because he was scared. And as far as he could remember, Takashi had always spoken fondly about his father. What could have happened between them to have caused this sort of reaction from his dad?

“He’s at Big Bang Burger with his friends,” replied Sojiro. It wasn’t a lie yet it felt like was one. This entire week he had to give excuse after excuse to poor Kido-san. He could tell his father was worried sick about his son’s sudden lack of communication. When Sojiro asked why he won’t call his dad back, Takashi just shrugged it off and flat out told him to tell him he wasn’t here if his father ever called back.

Sojiro had warned him to not play with his father’s feelings and to be considerate. Takashi, of course, did not pay attention and shuffled back to the attic to play video games or talk to his cat. 

“Look I’m not one to pry into your home life,” he stated the night before. “All I can say is that this has gone long enough. You need to call your father.”

Takashi scoffed. “Pft, what are you my dad?”

“No,” Sojiro narrowed his eyes, “but I am a father.” 

Takashi couldn’t say anything in return to that response, walking as fast as he could upstairs to his room knowing fully well that Sojiro would be shaking his head in disapproval just like a father.

“It’s Friday, Sakura. You’ve been saying the same shit over and over! Now tell me the fucking truth: Where is my boy?”

“Kido-san,” Sojiro stated as calmly as he could. Even though Takashi’s father could easily be his son, Sojiro was still intimidated by the guy. They never met and the only frame of reference was a picture Takashi had shown him one night at the café when teaching him about curry, but his menacing voice alone was enough to scare the most brash of men. “I’ve told you all that I know: Your son is at Big Bang Burger with his friends. They’ve been working on a project for school. I’ve told your kid many times to call you back, if he hasn’t he just hasn’t had the tim-”

“That’s bullshit and you know it!”

“Yelling isn’t going to do anything, Kido-san.”

“I just need to talk to my son! I’ll go to Tokyo right now if I have to!”

Frankly speaking, Sojiro thought that would be an amazing idea for Kido to come over and slap some sense into his son. For a small moment he almost told him to do so, however Futaba and Takashi happened to walk right in.

The older man glared at Takashi and mouthed “it’s your father!”

Takashi waved his hands frantically.

With a roll of his eyes, Sojiro responded, “It’s okay Kido-san. I’ll go talk to your boy. Just let me handle it?”

“Tch... fine. Go smack upside the head for me. Tell him I’m not messing around.”

“I will, Kido-san.” Sojiro shook his head at Takashi. The teen replied with a rebellious shrug and marched right up the stairs. “I will.”

Futaba sighed. After all the progress she made, it seemed like Takashi was going backwards with his.

 

_“This is Police Chief Saito of the Shibuya Precinct.”_

 

On November 13, Reiji made his usual Sunday call to his son. He always made sure to call in the late evenings as Takashi liked to oversleep and spend most of his mornings either passed out in bed or browsing on his mobile then later passing out until noon. Reiji was certain his son would behave no differently in Tokyo.

As the phone was dialing, Reiji silently excused himself, going upstairs and entered Takashi’s room, closing the door for privacy. When Takashi answered, all the pent-up tension would disappear from Reiji’s mind, shoulders going slack, and finally lying on his son’s bed with an inward sigh of relief as he and his son talked about their week. The two would start with the usual “how are yous?” and “how was your day/week?” then the conversation would meander to things they remembered from the past, or comment about something they saw which led to another conversation about random subjects and sweet nothings such as how ridiculous that a sports manga about curling exists, or the trip to the aquarium involving a seven-year-old Takashi dancing next to the dolphin tank with the dolphin moving to the boy’s rhythm while Reiji recorded it onto his phone.

The phone call was a ritual that set him at ease, though he would never in his life ever admit it to his wife or son. 

“How’re doing, Kashi?”

“I’m alright,” Takashi yawned. “You?”

“I’m okay.” Reiji squirmed in the bed, trying to get comfortable. “How was your week?”

“Busy.”

“Nothing new?”

“Nah.”

“…And your day today?”

“S’alright.”

“Feelin’ the love here,” he replied with a scowl.

Takashi scoffed. “Tch. I’m just really tired dad.”

“That’s never stopped you before.” Why was his kid giving him lip like that? And Reiji had been in such a good mood too. If he were here, he’d smack some sense into his kid. He then remembered about the flu outbreak that had been plaguing Tokyo the past few days. “Hey you okay? Did you catch the flu or something?”

“No,” his son answered disinterestedly. “Just took advantage of it with my friends today so I’m wiped.” Takashi made a noise that sounded as if he realized he had sad something he shouldn’t have.

Take advantage of the flu? What the hell did that mean? 

“Takashi.” His voice had gone full father mode. It didn’t involve any yelling, but the seriousness and eerie calmness of his voice was enough to make anyone fear for their lives. Reiji only used that menacing tone when he suspected Takashi was doing something dangerous or being stupidly stubborn about a matter. “What are you getting into? You tell me right now, or I’ll haul your ass back to Sumaru. **Tonight.** ”

A nervous gulp was heard through the receiver. Takashi knew he’d be in deep shit if he didn’t answer correctly, a fact that Reiji knew very well. He waited for his son to answer.

“Dad!” Takashi whined. “Look I just have a lot on my mind! There’s something important I have to do next week so I can’t concentrate, alright? I’m not doing anything bad. You’ve already seen my test results. I’m fine!”

“What's that thing you have to do?”

“It’s a project with my friends. We’re trying to make sure it goes well, so I can’t be bothered.” An annoyed groan followed. “That’s good enough for you?”

The rudeness wasn’t, and he had the good sense to scold him for the unnecessary attitude, but decided against it. All he wanted was to steer the conversation into something positive.

“I gotta go dad. I’m passing out over here.” 

“We’ll talk next week. Don’t think for a second you’re off the hook, you hear me?”

“…yeah.”

“Good night-” The sound of an ended call caught him off guard. “The hell?”

Thirteen minutes and forty-eight seconds flashed on his phone. Reiji slammed his fist onto the bed as he got up to leave and slammed the bedroom door. Takashi had not even wished him a good night.

Something was wrong but Reiji wasn’t sure if it was something he should go to Tokyo for. The last thing he needed was for his son to cast him away over his paranoia. He opted to stay in Sumaru and follow up with his wife and mother, while the feeling of uncertainty continued to grow with each passing day.

 

_“I know this is rather sudden however…”_

 

Sunday morning and Reiji could easily see Takashi was miserable. Waking up early in the morning was already a pain, but having to wake up early on your off day so you could get shipped off to Tokyo to meet a complete stranger was nothing sort of cruel and unusual punishment. Having to wear a geeky school uniform also didn’t help the boy’s foul mood. The only thing stopping Takashi from going completely numb was the breakfast Reiji had made.

Takashi moped at the table while his mother served him his meal. After muttering itadakimasu, he slowly ate his grilled saury, rice and miso soup, spending as much time as he could with his parents before leaving to Tokyo for his probation.

“Takkun,” his mother started, tears beginning to form in her eyes, “you’ll need to finish your meal soon or you’ll be late.”

“…” Takashi looked at his meal and put down his chopsticks. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Kashi,” a gruff voice answered. “I didn’t wake up early on a Sunday to make you breakfast and you not eat it.” He put down the newspaper and plucked a piece of fish from his plate before eating it. “Take your time.”

A small fleeting smile formed on Takashi’s lips. He grabbed his utensils and began to eat at his normal pace. “It’s really good, dad.”

Reiji smiled back and ruffled his son head. “Why are you wearing those geeky glasses?”

Takashi adjusted his hair and removed his glasses to show his father. “So people can think I look non-threatening and leave me alone. It’s non-prescription so it won’t mess up my eyes. It’s all the rage right now.”

“You look like a nerd.” Reiji did not bother to hide his smirk.

The teen snorted. “Well whose fault is it that I have a resting bitch face?” 

“And you think putting on those fuckboy glasses will work?”

Takashi shrugged before putting them back on. “It’s worth a try.”

“Well I think they look lovely on you, Takkun!” his mother interjected, reaching forward to fix her son’s hair. “Your father is just trying to give you a hard time. Not like he knows anything about fashion.”

“I know, right? This is coming from the guy who was called Captain Naked in school because he didn’t know what a shirt was.”

Reiji rolled his eyes. He was not naked at all! Naked is when you’re not wearing shirt and pants. He had worn pants to school therefore he was not naked. “I know what a shirt was!”

“Sure, dad. Sure.”

“It’s okay to admit it, honey.”

Takashi and his wife continued to make jabs at Reiji’s fashion sense until it was time to go. The three walked to the station. His wife was giving Takashi advice and warnings about the big city, while Takashi nodded in acknowledgement to her lecture. Reiji stayed silent the entire way, looking every so often at his wife and child interact. When it was time for his son to get on the train, Mrs. Kido continued to admonish incessantly while kissing her son’s head repeatedly. She was in a fit of tears during the goodbye. Reiji had to pull her away to let their son go. 

“This isn’t the end,” Reiji said to Takashi, gently smoothing his wife’s head against his chest. “We’ve got phones now.”

“And the internet.”

Reiji held out his free arm, letting Takashi lean into him for a quick embrace. “Call me when you get settled.”

Takashi nodded against his dad’s chest. “I will.” He reluctantly pulled away and walked into the train. As the train began to move, his parents walked across the platform, picking up the pace as the train gained momentum. eyes never leaving their son. When they finally reached the edge, they waved at their boy until the train was out of sight. 

The couple spent a few minutes at the platform’s edge in silence. They had tried their best to find a school that would accept him nearby, however due to the connections the alleged assaulted victim had, the courts forced him to send him to Tokyo for his parole. Not that any schools nearby wanted him to begin with. Even a crappy school like Kasugayama didn’t want him. As luck would have it, the lawyer Nanjo got was able to secure him a school where his future would stand a chance: Shuujin High. At least it was a fairly good school. Nothing like Sevens but still miles ahead from Cuss. 

Mrs. Kido cried against her husband’s arm. Reiji’s eyes watered, but no tears fell. He knew his son was going to be okay. If he had managed to do well after being a second-year transfer student in high school, then so could Takashi. It wasn’t the end, only the start of a new beginning.

A journey if you will.

 

_“Kido-san you need to come to Tokyo immediately.”_

 

“I’m home!” Reiji pulled off his shoes at the genkan, not really caring to place them neatly onto the shoe rack but did it anyway. He was trying to get into better habits to make the missus happier. A happy wife is a happy home. Something like that.

“Welcome home!” his wife responded cheerfully from the living room.

“Doing okay?” he asked as slipped into his house slippers and removed his suit jacket. Fall was coming and the weather was already getting cooler. 

“Same old as always, dear,” she turned away to hide the big smile on her face.

Reiji quirked aneyebrow. “Oh?”

“Today’s been uneventful, I’m afraid.” She turned around to face her husband, the smile was gone but the mirth lingered in her voice. “How about yours?”

Not entirely convinced with her response, Reiji shrugged and loosened his tie. “Same, I guess.”

“That’s good to hear.” Her gaze shifted behind her husband for a split second, then back at him. “I was hop-hoping you’d make dinner tonight?” Her voice was beginning to crack.

“Me?” Reiji asked incredulously. He was more than capable in the kitchen but he rarely cooked during the weekdays unless he came home early or there was a special occasion. And the only person that specifically requested that sort of thing would be his son. Speaking of which… “Is Kashi home?”

“HA!”

From the nowhere, Reiji felt a heavy weight grab him from behind, holding onto his neck and shoulders tightly while a pair of awkward legs attempted to wrap around his midsection. It didn’t help that the weight took him by surprise almost falling backwards onto a wall full of picture frames. 

“Shit!” Reiji managed to regain his balance and helped hook the legs around his waist. He should have known something like this would happen with his wife acting suspicious and all, but hindsight was only 20/20 and he didn’t expect his teenage son to leap onto his back like he used to when he was a small child. Reiji was young (barely 35), and even he couldn’t handle a surprise attack like that. “Dammit Kashi you’re getting fat!”

His wife clutched her stomach from all the laughing. “You should have seen the look on your face!”

“Ha ha very funny,” Reiji rolled his eyes at his wife who continued to laugh. “Gotta reason to give your old man a heart attack, or do you just like attaching yourself like a monkey?”

“Ook ook eek eek!”

Reiji walked himself into that one. “You have until the count of three before I drop your ass. One-”

“Don’t be so sore, honey,” his wife chided.

“He’s always like this,” Takashi gripped harder. “You can never tease him.”

“Says the joker who got mad when I woke him up all frantic on Sunday pretending it was Monday morning. I dropped him off at school and everything. He was so mad he locked himself in his room the entire day. Two.”

“That wasn’t funny, dad!”

“You didn't do that, did you!? When?”

“I totally did. When you went to visit your sister in Kyoto last year. I had to get him back for that stunt he pulled when he switched my shaving cream with the whipped cream. He even made me hot chocolate with “whipped cream” for me that morning.”

“I hope you’re proud of yourself for stooping to his level, Reiji.”

“Worth it, babe. Three-”

“I got accepted to Sevens!”

“You what!?” Reiji turned his head to try and see his son. Frustrated at the angle, he let down his son and grabbed his shoulders. “You got in!? Holy shit you did!?”

“He did!”

“I did!” Takashi was greeted by a firm hug complete with head ruffling. 

Instead of cooking, Reiji took his family out to ramen. His son was going to go to a prestigious school, which would help him get into a good university and hopefully into a good job. Takashi had spent hours studying for the Seven Sister’s High School exam, and all that hard work paid off. Things were looking up for Takashi and Reiji couldn’t be any prouder. 

 

_“Are you sitting down, Kido-san?”_

 

Normally the sort to be on the frontlines of a battle, Reiji stayed as far as possible from the large shadow while holding onto his son tightly against his chest. He used his Personas to support Aigis and Katsuya and occasionally cast an attack spell to help defeat the shadow. It was frustrating to not be close to the action and be relegated as a healer, but Reiji ultimately did not care about the change and continued to aid the two Shadow Operatives. 

His number one priority was to keep his son safe. 

Reiji’s full attention was on his son after Aigis, Katsuya, and him defeated the shadow. The boy was unresponsive despite being shaken and called to, but still breathing.

Aigis placed a cool hand over Takashi’s forehead. “His vitals are stable, but I don’t know if the shadow did something to him.” 

Reiji felt a cold sweat running down his body at the thought of losing his son’s being to a shadow. His eyes widened with fear. “We have to do something!”

“Kido-san…”

“Aigis you’re supposed to be an anti-shadow weapon! You have to help!”

“I don’t know what else to do,” Aigis sighed, a sadness in her voice. 

“Takashi can’t d-”

“I think I have the answer,” Katsuya answered, adjusting his glasses. “We have to take him to the Velvet Room for Igor to look at him.”

“Will it work?” asked Aigis.

“It’s been done before, granted it was done before Takashi was born.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes!”

It had been a long time since Reiji had been to the Velvet Room. This was his first visit since he was twenty. Being a part of the Shadow Operatives gave him a reason to return and seek help from its inhabitants. He was surprised to see that the Velvet Room had changed, and by the look of things so were his companions. Instead of the large lounge, it appeared to be an arcade full of machines flashing bright lights. In the middle of this room was Igor sitting in front of a poker table with a young foreign-looking man wearing a blue suit by his side. Belladonna was singing at the karaoke corner and Nameless was nowhere to be found, however the melody he played could still be heard as if he were in the very room. 

“Welcome to the Velvet Room,” Igor greeted in his amicable yet ominous voice. “It has been quite some time since you’ve last visited, Reiji.” Noting the unconscious child in his arms, Igor moved his head curiously to the side, pointing his long, crooked finger at Reiji’s chest. “I am pleased to see you’ve changed your fate.”

“Igor,” Reiji begged feverishly as he approached the green poker table and laid his son on top. “Please you have to help my son!”

“Your son…” Igor said carefully, never taking his eyes away from Reiji’s. “Tell me why you believe he needs my assistance.”

“There was this shadow! And Takashi found it and-”

“You fear the shadow had done something to you son, is that correct?”

“That’s what I’m trying to say!” he growled. The young man next to Igor shifted uncomfortably while Igor merrily laughed. Reiji was not at all amused.

“As rash as ever,” the proprietor chuckled. “However, your son remains untouched by the shadow’s influence.”

“R-really?” Reiji’s voice cracked from the relief. He swept Takashi’s bangs from his face, smoothing his forehead with his thumb. “He’s okay?”

“The boy is merely exhausted from the encounter as one would be without the potential-”

“Ma-master!”

Katsuya eyebrow quirked upwards and noted Aigis move uneasily at the outburst from the attendant. It even seemed like Belladonna’s voice faltered at Igor’s remark. “So he’ll wake up?”

“Of course, of course. Let the boy rest and he shall wake from his slumber.”

That was all Reiji needed to hear. Without a word to Igor or the attendants, he held his son closely, kissing the top of his head before carrying him out of the Velvet Room and back home. Katsuya and Aigis said their goodbyes then proceeded to follow suit.

“I apologize for my rudeness, Master,” Theodore blushed furiously at his blunder. “But why did you tell him his son didn’t have potential when he clearly does?”

“I would not want the boy’s father to throw an angry fit if I were to tell him the truth.”

“But,” Theodore sulked, “isn’t it the boy’s potential the reason why his being wasn’t affected by the shadow’s proximity?”

“Indeed,” Igor nodded. “I believe it is not the end of our encounter. I have faith we shall see young Kido in the near future.”

 

_“This is hard to say.”_

 

Takashi liked to show off his father’s strength. While most of the kids at school had older fathers or fathers who weren’t fit, he was the one with the youngest, most fit dad in the entire class. 

“My dad can beat up your dad!” was what he often said to the others. 

A few of his classmates witnessed Takashi and his father playing in Aoba Park during the summer break. Mr. Kido swung his son around by the arms and carried him above his head without showing any signs of being tired. One child even swore Takashi’s dad tossed him up in the air and caught him only to hurl Takashi up again. Considering most grown-ups only do that to babies, and Takashi being ten, the feat was amazing to his peers. Their dads would never ever be able to do that!

Another child witnessed Mr. Kido wrestling his son after throwing him from an arm-swing session. Takashi laughed as he got up from the grass, stumbling on his feet from the dizziness. His father grabbed him from his middle and pretended to piledrive him to the ground. The two wrestled until Mr. Kido allowed Takashi to pin him down and win the match. What surprised the child the most was how Mr. Kido rolled over his kid (Takashi even laughed!) and swiftly brought Takashi into his arms and, like magic, the boy was piggybacked on his shoulders heading to the snow cone stand.

 

_“It happened last night.”_

 

“Papa,” Takashi observed his father thoughtfully as the two watched tv together. “Do you think Junko Kurusu is pretty?”

“Junko’s a babe,” Reiji responded automatically. Realizing what he had said to a seven-year-old, he choked on his tea, sending him into a coughing fit. When he recovered, Takashi watched him with amusement in his eyes, and not the kind anyone would find funny. “You little fucker-”

“REIJI!” his wife yelled from the kitchen. She was getting tired of having to remind her husband to stop speaking so rudely to his son. All that cursing couldn’t be good for a child.

“He started it!” Reiji yelled back. He placed his large hand over his son’s head and ruffled his hair. Takashi giggled, reaching to hug his father’s arm. “Cheeky.”

With a bright smile, the boy squeezed the arm. “I think she’s beautiful!” 

Reiji couldn’t help but grin at his kid’s answer. “She is.”

“I want a girlfriend like her, or sensei! I don’t like the girls in my class.”

“You have a lot of cute girls in your class, Kashi,” he said, pulling Takashi to his lap and rested his chin on his son’s head. “Don’t you think Karin-chan is cute?”

Takashi laid back against his dad’s chest, letting the pointy chin rub against his scalp. It felt pretty good to get it scratched like that. His father grabbed his arms and began to manipulate them playfully like a doll, swinging them back and forth in random motions. “Nah. She’s not an old lady like mommy.”

“TACCHAN!” 

The two flinched. 

 

_“Regarding your son…”_

 

The skies were clear. The sun was shining. The weather was just right. The cake was chocolate and the party theme was Phoenix Ranger Featherman R. All that was missing was a rainbow to finish the perfect birthday to a special little boy.

Takashi, who had been looking forward to the day he would finally become five-years-old, was inconsolable.

Everything started off fine. The children played happily, snacking about while the mothers laughed together and supervised their children. Takashi was growing anxious at all the attention and wanted to be alone for a bit before joining back. He ran to his room and grabbed his beloved cat plushie. Sitting in a corner far from the adults, he smoothed the cat’s soft head while watching the other children play often saying sweet words of encouragement such as “you’re so bwave!” and “It’s not so scawy, Nyan-Nyan. I’ll hold your hand” to his toy.

It wasn’t until another boy from Takashi’s kindergarten class began to fight with Takashi over who could hold Nyan-Nyan did all hell break lose.

“Let go!” The cat plush was in a tug-o-war between the two boys. “You’re hurting Nyan-Nyan!”

“It’s my turn!”

One hard tug was all took before Nyan-Nyan’s right arm was ripped from the seams. Takashi screamed, tackling the boy. His little fists wailing on the offender without any mercy.

When Reiji came home, Takashi and the boy had already been pulled aside by the mothers thirty minutes ago. Takashi was still bawling his eyes out with no sign of stopping.

Putting down the custom Featherman cake on he had ordered, Reiji walked up to his wife who was holding Nyan-Nyan. Despair was written all over her face. “Can you tell me why our son is crying?”

His wife showed Reiji the torn cat plush their son loved so much. It was a gift from Reiji when Takashi turned two. “He hasn’t stopped crying ever since. He doesn’t even want me to touch him.” 

With a sigh, Reiji casually approached his son while the other children and mothers watched as the very tall, scary yet handsome papa came to the sobbing child and scooped him in his arms. Instead of kicking or screaming as the mothers, including Mrs. Kido had experienced earlier when trying to console the boy, Takashi gripped onto his father and buried his face into his neck.

Takashi sniffed and wiped his nose against his father’s shirt. “Papa! Nyan-Nyan is hurt!”

“Did he cry?” he asked softly. He placed a gentle kiss on Takashi’s forehead.

“Yes!” Fresh tears rolled down Takashi’s chubby cheeks. “He’s cwying with mama!”

“Oh that won’t do,” Reiji frowned, wiping the tears with his thumb. Takashi hiccupped. “Nyan-Nyan needs his papa to make him all better.” Motioning to his wife, Reiji carried Nyan-Nyan and Takashi towards a cabinet. He pulled out wrappers from a tiny boy and then took the duo into boy’s room, carefully sitting on the floor. His son continued to weep silently against his chest.

At least he wasn’t screaming anymore.

“Look Kashi.” Reiji held Nyan-Nyan upright with his free hand. Using Nyan-Nyan’s good hand, Reiji made the toy rub their eye. “Nyan-Nyan’s crying. He’s very sad.”

“No! Don’t cwy Nyan-Nyan!” the boy cried desperately as he reached for his precious toy. He hugged his black cat tightly. “Papa is here for you! You’re a bwave boy!”

Reiji smiled, stroking his son’s fluffy hair. “He is a brave boy. He’s brave just like his papa.”

“Ima bwave papa.”

“That’s right.” He held the wrappers in front of the boy. When Takashi blinked in confusion, Reiji peeled the wrappers to reveal colorful adhesive bandages. The child’s eyes lit up in excitement. “You have to take responsibility and make his owie feel better.”

“I will make Nyan-Nyan feel better!” he exclaimed enthusiastically. He snatched a bright blue bandage from his father’s hand and removed the final wrappings. After kissing the bad arm, Takashi plastered the bandage on Nyan-Nyan’s injury. He repeated the process until Nyan-Nyan’s entire arm was covered in a barrage of kisses and rainbow bandages.

“Nyan-Nyan’s happy!” Reiji pat the cat’s head. “You did great, Takashi.”

Takashi smiled at his toy then cradled it in his arms. He put his little index finger against his lips. “Shh! Nyan-Nyan’s sleeping, papa.”

“Oh sorry,” his father whispered. “We should let him sleep here. He’s had a busy day.”

“He’s pooped!” Takashi shouted. He wiggled out of his father’s lap to lay Nyan-Nyan on his bed, even going to far as tucking the plushie in. “We’ll bwing him cake later. He’s had a busy day!”

“Shh!” Reiji repeated Takashi’s hush motion. “Don’t wake up baby.”

Takashi’s eyes widened with realization and put his finger against his lips. He whispered, “Sleepy Nyan-Nyan.”

Reiji watched as his son continued to whisper hushed secrets to his cat plush. Takashi placed sweet kisses all over the cat’s snout and forehead, and occasionally the ears. When the boy was satisfied, he jumped onto his father’s lap. A big smooch was planted on Reiji’s cheek. 

“Nyan-Nyan said to give you a kiss.”

With only a smile, Reiji took Takashi’s hand and led him back to the party. He promised that he would take Nyan-Nyan to the hospital and that “Doctor Grandma” would make his owie all better. Takashi said he would be a good papa and be there during Nyan-Nyan’s surgery, and even give his kitty a lollipop for being the bravest brave cat ever. 

 

_“I regret to inform you…”_

 

Reiji will never understand why taking a toddler to the park for the first time was such a big deal. His wife had recently fallen ill with the flu and couldn’t take Takashi to his park debut. She lamented how she wouldn’t be able to witness this important event. Their son was to socialize with other children while she’d go and make her presence known to the other mothers at the park. Hopefully as the time would pass, the mothers would accept her into their social circle and gain connections.

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at how stupid it sounded. Takashi just needed to get some fresh air and play until he started getting cranky. Then he would nap on Reiji’s stomach. That seemed to be the baby’s favorite spot for some weird reason. His son was odd, but then again his mother said Reiji was an odd baby himself. 

“It has to be today! Today’s the day the weather will be perfect! I don’t want Tacchan to be exposed to dangerous weather! Reiji, you HAVE to take him! His debut is important!”

Not that he wasn’t going to do it, but why did she insist he bring three bags? After making sure his wife was sleeping and setting cool drinks by the nightstand, Reiji abandoned the other extraneous bags for a simple diaper bag. They were only going to be there for two hours tops. Takashi gets tired easily when he’s around too many people, much like himself.

Finding the baby play area, Reiji let Takashi roam around the foam playground while watching close by, assisting his boy with climbing onto different platforms and helping him down when he was ready to explore another area. Without realizing, several mothers were huddled together looking at the two interact. Holding up his arm, Takashi guided his father towards the sandbox. Reiji had to bend over fairly low to even grasp his son’s hand. He struggled to keep up with his son’s pace at the awkward angle he was in.

The mothers giggled at the sight. 

Reiji sat by a nearby bench a couple of feet away from the sandbox. He felt bad for not bringing any hard toys for Takashi to play with in the sand. Instead all he had was Nyan-Nyan and a hat. Nyan-Nyan stayed right next to Reiji while Takashi grabbed his little hat and used it as a scoop. His wife was not going to be pleased about the hat getting dirty, but it made Takashi happy and the other children around him seemed to be friendly around him too. 

Rummaging through the bag, Reiji pulled out the bento he made earlier and gathered a small morsel of rice and fish with the chopsticks. “Kashi!”

Takashi turned his head. He sprang from his spot and ran up to his father who held the food up over the box. The toddler chomped the food with a loud “Ahn!” before running back to the playground. 

A mother squealed in delight when Takashi ran up to his father back and forth to get food and waddle back to play. The two repeated this motion until the mothers approached Reiji right as Takashi hurried to the sandbox after gobbling his snack. 

At first Reiji wasn’t too sure what to think about the horde of mothers surrounding him. He was used to women fawning over him as early as middle school, but he didn’t expect it to persist even after he had a child. The mothers asked him a myriad of questions: his marital status, what he did for a living, how many children he had, his son, his son’s age, where he planned to take his son for kindergarten, the food he fed him, and many more. The women were shocked to hear that Reiji was only twenty-two years old, some even going as far as to claim they were the same age despite it being as obvious as night and day that Reiji was visibly younger than all of them. A few ladies had Reiji sample the food they had made, asking if he thought they were delicious and to have some more since their precious dears were “too full” and hated have any leftovers.

They avoided asking about his wife. Reiji felt there was an ulterior motive behind that, and kept quiet to prevent any of them from becoming upset. Takashi ran back with the sandy hat on his head. The boy hugged his father’s leg and glared at the women who were feeding his father the snacks they brought. One lady even tried to pat Takashi on the head, which he responded with a loud “NO!”

Reiji apologized for his son’s response, packed up their supplies, and carried his boy. Takashi held onto him tightly, angry tears welling in his eyes. His father sighed apologetically, removing the hat and smacking it against the bench to remove the sand. His wife definitely wasn’t going to be happy about it, but maybe she wouldn’t find out? 

Kissing his son’s grumpy face, Reiji thanked the mothers for their kindness and advice. Their bright and eager smiles were not missed, especially the aww’s when Takashi planted a wet kiss on his cheek in return. Reiji bid them farewell as Takashi was becoming agitated from missing his afternoon nap.

He was so relieved to finally have a tangible excuse to avoid a crowd of ladies. 

Very thirsty married ladies.

Takashi was such a lifesaver, grump and all. 

 

_“Please come to identify the body.”_

 

This was the day Reiji had been waiting for, wasn’t it? Today was the day his wife would give birth to his child. All that effort and grueling work hours all amounted to this one day for this one person to come into this world.

He was afraid to be in the room with his wife, but he knew she would be okay because her mother was there to support her. He was so scared to see his wife at her most vulnerable. What if something happened? What if he didn’t feel anything for the kid?

That’s right.

Reiji knew he was responsible for the wellbeing of the child he accidentally made. Yet deep down he wasn’t sure he was going to truly love the baby. The child wasn’t conceived out of love, but out of thoughtless lust and wanting to go balls deep raw because they had run out of condoms.

If he rejected his son or daughter, would he be like his father? The man who had abandoned his mother when she was barely pregnant? The man who returned even after his mother bravely gave birth by herself with only the hospital staff because her parents were ashamed she wanted to keep her bastard child? That awful, good for nothing man who used his power and money to get away with beating his sweet mother just because he thought so little of her?

No.

He wouldn’t become that even if he couldn’t love his kid. He would give his child a proper home with a married man and woman filed in a family registry. A warm home, food, and clothes on their back. That is what Reiji would provide to his child. 

When the nurse came to fetch Reiji, his heart felt like it was ready to jump out his throat. As he approached his wife and jubilant mother-in-law, his legs began to lose its strength. But he stood upright without showing a sign of his failing legs and kissed his wife’s forehead.

His wife beamed at her husband. She uncovered the blanket to reveal a small infant with a poofy tuft of black hair on a bright round face suckling on her breast. Carefully, she pulled the baby away, only a small whimper escaping the newborn’s lips, and held the child towards him. “This is our son, Reiji.”

Almost as if on autopilot, Reiji stroked the boy’s soft cheek and by the machinations of unknown force or just his instincts found himself embracing the baby in his arms. 

No, not the baby. 

His baby. 

His son. 

Warm tears came gushing down his face. He gingerly kissed his son’s forehead, caressing his delicate, soft head.

“My God…” he whispered, letting the tears continue. “You are so beautiful, Takashi.”

 

_“We’ll be waiting.”_

 

The morgue was… Cold. Bleak. Quiet. Empty.

When the detective led the Kidos to the holding area, Reiji’s stomach was in knots. His wife cried silently against a handkerchief, shaking her head over and over, whispering “It’s a mistake. It has to be a mistake.”

Pulling the handle revealed a long drawer with a drape over a body. Reiji grasped his wife’s free hand as the detective unveiled the corpse’s head and torso.

His wife threw herself against the body, bawling and screaming for the boy she loved.

Bruises were scattered all over the torso. A nasty large one was located on the stomach, no doubt from a cruel kick when Takashi was down. His face was also covered with bruises, some on the cheek, another above his eye. A bullet wound was right in the middle of his forehead.

Reiji unconsciously touched his own forehead and felt his own scar. X marks the spot.

The dead were supposed to look serene yet there was nothing serene about Takashi’s cold, pale face.

As his wife continued to cry out to Takashi’s body and the detective talking to them about the details of his suicide, Reiji stood silent. There were no tears in his eyes. His lips were thin. Fists were calm and relaxed. 

All he could see was red.

**Death.**

**The end of old and the birth of new beginnings, irrevocably broken…**

There was only one thing to do:

Find that bastard Sojiro.

It didn’t matter if it would take him all night. Sojiro would pay.

**A Tower has been erected in its stead.**

**A symbol of disaster and misfortune to those who have fallen from its spire.**

The chime alerted Sojiro of a patron’s arrival. The shop had been closed the entire day after what had happened to his ward. He couldn’t bear to face anyone. The pain was too much. He had lost Wakaba and now Takashi. Why didn’t they read the damn sign!? It’s closed! Or at least he thought he placed the sign on close.

“I’m sorry we’re clo-”

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

It all happened so fast yet felt like slow motion. Sojiro swore he had seen Takashi coming through that door. Except Takashi was taller. And older. And had the fury of the highest order of demons. Just he made a double take, his body was slung roughly over the counter, knocking down various mugs and glass coffee containers to the ground. A powerful fist landed on his face, once, twice, three times before a knee collided with his abdomen.

“It’s your fault! It’s your fucking fault my boy is dead!”

A distant voice screamed. 

“You let this happen! You didn’t fucking do shit! You fucking told me you’d handle it! That I didn’t need to come to fucking Tokyo to set him straight! You fucking told me!”

Sojiro coughed weakly as the furious man seized him by the collar and lifted him a few inches from the ground. His eyes were teeming with a murderous bloodlust, lips curling like a wolf’s. This was worse than a demon. This was the wrath of an anguished father.

“Kido-san, listen-”

“Bring him back!” Reiji threw the man against a booth. “BRING HIM BACK!”

“I…” Tears rolled down the man’s bloodied face. “I can’t.” He did not even try to run away or block the two blows that followed.

Frantic steps boomed down the stairs.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! STOP!”

Reiji almost flipped over the small body that had latched onto his back, desperately trying to hold back his arms from hurting the old man.

**Mot lies dead in his coffin.**

**His eternal rest has finally come, ceasing his cycle of rebirth.**

“STOP!” Futaba’s tiny frame shoved back by an enraged Reiji, landing painfully against a stool. The man’s strength was immense, but that would not deter her. She had already lost her mother and Takashi; she was not going to lose Sojiro either!

Futaba rushed to push Sojiro away from Reiji. Holding out her arms to protect him from another blow, she screamed “DON’T KILL MY DAD!”

The punch that was supposed to land between Sojiro’s eyes never came. 

**I am thou...**

Eyes blurred by droplets.

Legs became jelly. 

Memories of a golf club and his mother flashing through his head.

Reiji collapsed on his knees in front of the Sakuras. Without any regard for his pride or the current predicament he had gotten himself into, the man broke down and wept for the first time since his son had been born.

**And thou art I...**

Futaba pulled out her phone with shaking hands. 

Wiping the blood off his face with his apron, Sojiro asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m calling the cops!”

“Futaba stop,” he said calmly. Futaba looks at Sojiro incredulously with tears in her eyes demanding answers. He knelt to Reiji’s side, placing a steady hand on the father’s shoulder. “This is Reiji Kido… Takashi’s father.”

The phone slipped right out of her hands.

“Whatever you’re feeling right now… this man is hurting a thousand times worse.”

**From the sea of thy soul, I come...**

Running back upstairs, Futaba returns with a different cell phone. Unsure how Mr. Kido would react, Futaba took a deep breath before kneeling next to the grieving man. 

“Kido-san?”

Reiji turned his head toward the young girl, his face devoid of all emotion. The tears kept coming with no sign of stopping. That girl was little. Takashi must have been her height when he was nine or ten. She was cute and alive. 

Alive… 

Unlike Takashi.

“This is Takashi’s phone.” No response from Reiji. “I looked into it after he… yeah, well… Anyway. You left him a voicemail, right?” Another blank stare, but there was a weak nodded that followed. “T-Takashi listened to it! See? It’s got the time it was listened to ri-right here! It was yesterday right after it was sent! There’s no alerts, y-you know?”

Futaba flashed the screen at Reiji’s face. In her nervousness, her fingers accidentally pressed the play button.

_“Hey Kashi it’s your dad. I just want to know why the hell you haven’t been answering your damn phone in the past few days. I know you’re busy and all, but shit, you’re making your mom really nervous. At least respond to her texts with some stupid ass emojis or something!”_

**Thy kingdom lost.**

_“We got cut too short last week so please call back. It’s not that damn hard you know? I mean, shit, come on! Ugh! …The reason why I’m getting pissed right now is cuz I wanted to say something to you last week, okay? Look, just, argh… look… tch… Okay, so I just have this feeling in my gut that that that something bad is going to happen to you. I wanna be wrong, so fucking answer the goddamn phone!”_

**Madness consuming thy soul.**

_“Look Takashi. What I want to say is… hmm… If, if, if something were to happen to your grandma, or your mom… like if they died? I’d be okay, you know? I mean I’d be sad but I’d get over it and live on. It sounds terrible but I’d get over it kinda fast? But… ah… if, if, hell! If anything were to happen to you?”_

**The life of one’s precious child who had truly loved thou above others, forcibly taken.**

_“…I… I wouldn’t even know if I could continue living…How would I wake in the morning? I don’t think I could! You… Takashi. You are. The **only** thing that matters… I’ve loved you the moment I first laid my eyes on you. Snf Snff. …You are my life… So, for the love of God! For whatever the fuck you give a shit about! Call! Me! Back!”_

**Call upon my name and accept thine anguish, for it is in loss that thou may reveal thy heart’s passion.**

“K-ki-k…” Reiji sobbed. “Ki-ki-ki…”

**No parent should have to bury their child.**

Sojiro wiped his eyes. He leaned the younger man’s body against his, embracing him tightly. Reiji did not fight Sojiro’s touch as he was far too exhausted to deny himself this sort of affection.

Despite her overwhelming sense of grief, Futaba felt an intense power beside her. She eyed Morgana who had witnessed the entire ordeal. Sadness written all over the cat’s face. Turning to look up at Reiji, she held onto the man’s distraught form, crying against his shoulder, tears unable to stop as his arm wrapped around her tiny body for comfort.

**I am the disgraced monarch…**

“…King Lear.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alas this was basically the bad end scenario of the 'What if Joker was Takashi Kido" storyline. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this wild ride. I wound up writing a ton, but that's what I ultimately wanted.  
> More than anything thank you for your kudos and your support. I'm happy that there are people who enjoyed this headcanon, but now it's time to put it to rest, at least on my end. If for some reason Takashi Kido does become a thing, you can expect more from me as I'll be right on it like nobody's business!
> 
> Please feel free to comment! Kudos are great too!


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